The non-appearance of invited Soviet speakers at international conferences - an all-too-familiar feature of the international scientific scene during the several decades of the cold war - and the resultant relative isolation of Soviet science inevitablv led to inefficiences. infelicities and lost opportunities. One thinks, for example, of the numerous cases of wasteful repetition of work already completed and published on the other side of the iron curtain, of delayed recognition for important achievements, and incorrect attributions of priority in discovery. Much of the excellent Soviet science of this period has consequently been shrouded in a certain mystery, for those in the West, with many of the chief personae becoming familiar in name only, and years afterwards. This is especially true in the case of the (enormous) Soviet contributions to low-temperature physics, and in particular to the understanding of superfluid helium.